Ask why Sabah and Sarawak should hold one-third of Parliament’s seats and the answer usually starts in 1963. Some say 35%, the same figure rounded up. Most of that is right. The Constitution did protect their seat numbers. They were part of a group that held more than a third of the seats. But Singapore was in that group, and the protection had an end date.
Where the 35% came from
To change the Constitution, you need two-thirds of Parliament. So a group with more than one-third of the seats can stop it, if they all vote together.
The Dewan Rakyat is the elected half of Parliament. When Malaysia was formed on Sept 16, 1963, it had 159 seats. Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore held 55 of them, just over one-third. That is where the 35% comes from.
On their own, Sabah and Sarawak had 40 seats. That is a quarter. The other 15 were Singapore’s.
Singapore left in 1965. Its seats went to neither state. Parliament has since grown to 222 seats. The two states hold 56, still about a quarter. The 56 only looks like the old 55. That one was three states out of 159. Sabah and Sarawak did not lose seats. They lost the partner who made up the difference.
What the Constitution protected
The Constitution still protects the two states in some areas. Article 161E lists them: citizenship, the courts in Borneo, the powers of the state governments and their finances, religion, language and native rights. To change any of these, the state’s Yang di-Pertua Negeri has to agree. In practice the state government has a veto.
Seats were on that list too. But that part of the rule expired. It only covered Parliaments that met before the end of August 1970. Every Parliament since has been outside it. Before 1970, neither state could be given a smaller share than it had on Malaysia Day. Nothing replaced it.
So the Constitution froze their share for seven years. It never promised them one-third.
Azhar Azizan Harun, a former Dewan Rakyat Speaker, said in September 2025 that he had looked and found nothing in the Malaysia Agreement 1963, the Constitution, or the report of the committee that set up the merger.
Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, a Sarawak deputy minister, says the two states are down to about a quarter. Peninsular Malaysia now has more than two-thirds by itself. She says that lets Parliament change things affecting Borneo without Borneo agreeing. Article 161E only covers a fixed list. Everything else depends on the numbers.
What the two states asked for
Before joining, each state wrote down its conditions. Point 17 on both lists is about Parliament. It says seats should count not just population but size and potentialities, and should never drop below Singapore’s share.
Neither list says one-third. Neither says 35%. Both say size should count. Both set a floor. Singapore had 15 seats. Sabah had 16 and Sarawak 24, and both have more today.
Population is the harder test
Malaysia has 34.4 million people. Sabah and Sarawak have about 6.3 million, or 18 in every hundred. A third would be about 11 million. On population alone they are nowhere near it.
Land is the other way round. The two states cover about 60% of Malaysia. That is the size Point 17 wanted counted. Potentialities meant what land that big might become.
So there is a fair case for giving Borneo more seats than population alone allows. But not a case for one-third instead of a quarter or a half.
What it would take
Mustapha Sakmud, the minister for Sabah and Sarawak affairs, told the Dewan Rakyat on June 25, 2026 that the claim is still open. Redrawing seats is the Election Commission’s job, and it can only do that once every eight years. Changing a state’s share means amending Article 46, and that needs two-thirds.
So rebuilding the bloc needs a two-thirds vote in Parliament. Peninsular Malaysia holds more than two-thirds by itself.
None of this says whether a bigger bloc would be good for Malaysia. It says only that one-third is a request, not a right.
